Developer Blog
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Developer Update: Balance Changes and Nightbringer Season
The new season will start on Monday, January 19th. Greetings, citizens! From the Daemon Prince of Shadows we come to the Bringer of Night. As the Necrons are unleashed upon the 500 Worlds there are reinforcements in the form of a new upcoming Necron Warlord and new...
Developer Update: Balance Changes and Be’lakor Season
The new season will start on Monday, December 22nd. Greetings, citizens! From showing gratitude to the Imperial armoured division for the power of their steel wrath this Tanksgiving. We now give thanks to the one true Dark Master, Be’lakor, the first Daemon prince....
A Very Chaotic Chaosmas: Be’lakor’s Totally-Not-Cursed Holiday Blog
Greetings, creatures of shadow! 'Tis the season… when snow falls, bells ring, and Be’lakor glares disapprovingly at all mortal festivities from the shadows of the Warp. Yes, commanders, Chaosmas is here! While most people spend the holidays decorating trees, sharing...
Developer Update: Introducing Supreme Commander Be’lakor
The Dark Master has arrived and closes the year as our last Warlord of 2025. It is fitting to have the first of the Daemon Princes as our final send off, and what a send off he will be! We have been spoiled for Chaos Supreme commanders, one for each Chaos god, one for...
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Design Blog 18: Game dev focus – other key roles
So far we’ve had a game dev post about what it means to be a games coder, and we have upcoming posts on being an artist or a producer. We haven’t covered designers because I’m hoping you can pick up an idea of what their role is through all the game design posts I'm...
Design Blog 17: Combat Cards at conventions
A couple of weeks ago we took Combat Cards to Insomnia 62, a video and board games convention (with a side in cosplay and general geekery) at the NEC. Along with a closed beta test and appearing on Games Workshop’s Twitch channel, Combat Cards is now starting to be...
Design Blog 16: Faction drill down – Necrons
This week we’re looking at probably the toughest of the Combat Cards factions - the Necrons. And by tough - yes, I mean they’re hard to kill, but also difficult to use with full effectiveness. So let’s explore why. Toughness Miniatures in tabletop Warhammer...
Design Blog 15 – Deck Initiative
One of our goals for Combat Cards was to try and ensure the game had several layers of complexity, meaning new players can just focus on the basics, but there’s depth for veteran players. For example, new players may load their decks with only a few large, high Wound...
Design Blog 14: Campaigns – What and Why
If you’ve played the digital Combat Cards game you’ll have noticed the ‘Campaigns’ tab. Currently locked until you upgrade enough cards to reach Rank 5 (though that number may change), campaigns provide a separate challenge and set of prizes from normal battles. So...
Design Blog 13 – Warlord Choice and Mixed Faction Decks
If you’ve played Combat Cards, one thing you might have noticed is that we’ve deviated from tabletop Warhammer 40,000 in letting you take mixed faction decks. What I mean by that is the game will cheerfully let you take a Chaos Warlord with a mix of Necron, Space...
Design Blog 12: Faction drill down – Aeldari
Hi, this week I’ll be giving some insight into how the Aeldari faction plays in Combat Cards - there’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started. Directions First up, you have the problem of choosing which direction to take your deck. The Aeldari faction covers the...
Design Blog 11: Evolving The Game – Part 2
Hi there, this is the second part of our look at how the design of Combat Cards changed over its development. The first part covered why games evolve and what we mean by ‘game systems’. You can find that part here. Battles So, to recap, we use systems in Combat...
Design Blog 10: Evolving The Game – Part 1
I'm a games designer - I've been doing it all my adult life and I still find it a fascinating, but sometimes little understood subject. So as well as giving some insight into the specific design behind Combat Cards, I'd like these diaries to also cover general design...
Design Blog 9: Authenticity
Let’s talk about something a little different this week. I want to take you back to a bookstore basement in 1988. I’ve gone in to look for the latest Fighting Fantasy gamebook, but instead I see issue 104 of a colourful magazine called ‘White Dwarf’. It has articles...